Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up

by Naya Rivera

My feeling like an outsider changed quickly, though, when I met Dianna Agron, who played my fellow cheerleader, Quinn, and who also hadn’t met anyone else yet. Dianna and I had all our scenes together, and we were instant friends. The trailers on set during the pilot were super small and divided in two. Dianna and I shared one, and we soon decided to take down the partition that separated it so we could make a bigger shared space.

Some of the greatest people I’ve ever called friends.

Snixmas.

(major props to Dianna for bucking the “girls just wanna be sluts” Halloween stereotype and wearing a head-to-toe fuzzy dino costume that was not sexy in the least).

Dianna was born fancy.

one day, she’d show up with a British accent, and you wouldn’t even question it.

Because, hello—it’...

I still think that Cory had so much to live for, and for me that’s the worst part about his death—that it was so unnecessary.

Everything about his death seems unnecessary.

It would be an understatement to say that Glee changed my life.

“Yeah, I lived. I really lived.”

Abortion will always be a very controversial subject,

I think every woman should have the right to choose, and it scares me to think of a world where the decision of whether to have a child is not her choice to make.

I DON’T FUCK WITH YOU, EITHER

And now I have a rap song about me. That’s almost as good as a star on the Walk of Fame, right?

To say that Glee means a lot to me is an understatement, and there are a lot of people who worked on that show who I love dearly.

I do believe that God has a plan for everyone, and that our lives our predetermined.

God has a plan, and even if I think that plan is really shitty at first, I have to trust that it will all work out in the end.

You can’t be a good friend to someone else unless you’re a good friend to yourself first,

Never feel bad about cutting someone out of your life—sometimes that’s the only option. When you hang out with people who are true friends, you come away feeling lighter, more inspired to work hard, give love, and take care of yourself.

A friendship is just as much give-and-take and compromise as a romantic relationship, so you will get out what you put in.

I don’t trust people who claim to like everyone, because, really, how is that possible? If that is true, then you must not have any standards. If you care about your life, then there are going to be certain people you don’t want in it.

if you are committed to being your honest and authentic self, then you are going to piss a few people off here and there.

So when life gives me lemons, I say fuck it and drink champagne.

I hope that with this book, I can give a little love to someone who might recognize herself in these pages, and maybe that love will help her feel a little less alone.

still have so much further to go, but, still, I feel successful already.

Success is not defined by what the people around you want. It is based on what you want for yourself.

xo, Naya

To my Josey—thank you for being the best part of my story and choosing me to be a part of yours.